Dallas Real Estate News

If a buyer is seriously interested in a property, I am often asked about whether or not I know if a death has occurred there.  It doesn't matter where the house is, or how much time has passed... it always reminds me of the "pool man" incident several summers ago.

Our client was a divorced couple who wanted to continue raising their children together, without having to live in the same house.  They had a serious interest in one of our listings, and in the process of looking for something else as close to that listing as possible, I learned that one of the neighbors would be putting his home on the market very soon.  His wife had recently passed away, he had already moved to a smaller home in a nearby community, and his son, an agent in Houston, would be coming up to get the house listed.  GREAT!!!  Yay!!!  This could work!

I arranged a noontime showing at the house not yet listed, and arrived a bit early so I could walk to our own listing and get the AC turned to a comfortable temp, lights on, candles lit and whole-house music playing.  As I was walking back to the first house, my cell phone rang.  It was my business partner at that time.  "Where are you?!!! Get here fast!  I'm on the driveway on the side of the house." 

When I approached the driveway, I was shocked to see the owner's son and my partner kneeling over, giving a man CPR.  It was one of those incredible surreal moments when you aren't able to think about anything, you don't have time!  He was obviously unconcious, not breathing and probably already dead.  I was trying to give 911 directions into the little hidden enclave of estate homes while the two of them continued to work desperately trying to revive the man. 

Of course, it was at just this time that the buyers arrived.  I headed them off before they came upon the scene... just as the sirens of the ambulance could be heard in the distance. The showing was aborted, and before we were on to the next house, there was crime scene tape (unknown cause of death) and a half dozen official cars lining the street. 

The buyers ended up in house big enough for two or three families a mile or so away, and both of the other homes sold a few months later.  Imagine my surprise driving by there one recent Halloween to see a tombstone and a plastic set of feet and hands sticking up from the ground no more than twenty feet from the site of the pool man's demise. 

I don't think those folks knew what happened there on their driveway that day. 

Here's the official skinny on Disclosure:

Section 1101.556 of The Texas Real Estate License Act releases a seller or seller's agent from the duty to disclose information related to whether a dealth by natural causes, suicide or accident unrelated to the condition of the property occurred on the property.

Death by murder, molestations, or death that was related to the condition of the property (i.e. improperly installed electrical or even a loose handrail) must be disclosed.  Oh, and hauntings are required disclosures as well.